


Guardian

by alittleshitwithfeels



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Gen, Javert's Suicide, bishop is the best and fixes things, follows the brick more than the movie, probably a bit OOC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2018-01-16 06:37:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1335694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittleshitwithfeels/pseuds/alittleshitwithfeels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Javert has sent in his resignation to God, but the higher powers have one last task for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guardian

**Author's Note:**

> Purely self-indulgent. Probably a bit OOC and probably a bit shallow. But Javert needed a happy ending so I made one. Un-beta'd.

                Saying Javert was upset upon waking up to bright lights and an atmosphere of peace was a major understatement. He was furious. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He sent in his resignation and had expected it to be accepted. Madeleine had been overly lenient and Javert had hoped God wasn’t so.

He was disappointed.

                Some would say he should have known God was benevolent, but he wasn’t an active Christian. The Law was his religion and its god was Lady Justice. Until Valjean set him free, Javert had no need for the Christian God. He had seen such morality as a weakness for his whole life, but that one singular action broke that view apart.

That morally right act shattered his world view.

                When he stood over the Seine, he felt a similar emotion to when he stood before M. Madeleine asking to be turned out. He failed in his duty to a superior and thus did not deserve to remain on said superior’s ground. He couldn’t exactly ask God to rid of him, so he took the matter into his own hands and formally resigned.

                The river had been dark and cold. It had gripped tight and was unmerciful as it pushed air away with inky water. Human nature required one to fight when they are dying and the Seine seemed to revel in forcing one to realize that struggle is useless. As he sank, Javert realized the death was fitting. The river’s mercilessness made up for all the unjust kindness he had been given in life.

But no, fate had to squander that justice by having him wake in a bright peaceful location.

                There was a slightly less bright figure in front of him, but Javert couldn’t make out any specific features. He didn’t think it had any features; it seemed to be just a humanoid spot of light that was faded just enough to be separate from the background. Javert scowled openly at the figure, though the one he was furious with was himself. How could he have failed this?

                “Come now, Javert. Do not look so upset.” The voice was melodic and genderless, but was not a sound. Javert felt as though the voice existed only in his mind. “There is only one last task we need you to complete on Earth and then you may rest here.” The voice subtly became more authoritative, a ploy to appeal to the ex-inspector’s sense of duty. While he felt himself stiffen by old habit, he wasn’t going to just follow along.

“I have handed in my resignation… monsieur.”  
“Excuse me?” The figure seemed genuinely surprised.  
“I apologize if I have not referred to you correctly.” Javert stated, as the rest of the previous statement seemed clear to him.  
“No. What do you mean resignation?”

                Javert was floored. How could this being not understand? It was of Heaven was it not? It should understand! Frustrated beyond belief, he started to explain. “I failed God. I resigned by killing myself. I never meant to end up here, monsieur.” The figure seemed to soften and, while there seemed to be no appendages of any kind, reached out to the soul.

                Javert felt a warm and soft touch upon his cheek. He flinched away from the touch, but the contact did not break for an instant. “Oh no, Javert. You have earned a place here. Which you will take when you task is done.”

“No, monsieur. I will complete your task, but I will not stay here.”

The figure seemed to be unfazed. “We shall see.”

The warm ‘hand’ withdrew and Javert was embarrassed to realize he had forgotten it was there.

                “All we need you to do is guide Jean Valjean’s soul here. You’ll know how to do so when the time comes.”

Javert blinked and barely resisted rubbing his temple. “I am done with Valjean. Besides, wouldn’t a family member be more fitting than the man he perceives as a villain?”

“Therein lays the problem. The only family he recognizes is Cosette and she is not dead.”

“But still, why me?”

“I appreciate this questioning nature, but you need not know the reasons.” The figure reached again, but this time Javert felt his whole body warm.

Then the world dropped away.

                Javert blinked back into existence at the foot of Valjean’s bed. The nurse was urging Valjean to eat and he was refusing. The specter watched the scene curiously, unsure of what to make of it. Where was the man who carried a half-dead man through the sewer? Where was the man who lifted a cart all on his own? Where was that gentle strength?

This was not the man who passed through Javert’s life and attempted to save it. He wondered if Valjean was somehow already dead, that his soul managed to flee and left the body behind to wither away.

 _‘Well the man has been running all his life. Doesn’t he deserve rest?’_ The thought startled him and he wasn’t certain he owned it. He shook his head to clear it before resuming his quiet observation.

                After a few hours of watching Valjean mope around, Javert grew both bored and furious. He had not spared this man just for him to lie in bed for an unperceivable cause. He started to snap at the other man, but ceased when he received no reaction.

                The next day he grew excited when Valjean started shrugging on clothes, but it faded as he remembered why he was here.  As he watched Valjean cry over a letter, Javert wondered if he had made a mistake in no arresting him. Had he doomed Valjean in the same way Valjean doomed him? Had moral surprises ultimately killed them both? Maybe that was why Javert was chosen for this task; they unintentionally killed one another and they deserved some sort of closure. Still, Javert did not approve.

                Javert felt intrusive as he watched the scene between Cosette and Valjean. Again, he wondered if he had made a mistake in sparing Valjean. Was it wrong to take this away from a daughter in favor of a clean break? It seemed like a choice between two evils and Javert further cemented his hatred of the grey ground of morals, though he no longer had to make any moral calls.

                Valjean’s soul peeled away from his body with surprising ease, convincing Javert he had been right in his earlier assumption. The newly dead man seemed content even as he pressed a sorrowful kiss to Cosette’s brow. He started when he noticed Javert’s presence. His eyes automatically darted for exits before he calmed himself.

“Inspector Javert,” Valjean greeted, not sure what else to say.

“I have been instructed to guide you to Heaven. I apologize that it is I who is doing this.” Javert kept himself formal, letting the title pass in favor of getting this done quickly. “You were estranged from your family.”

Valjean fell silent, furrowed his brow, and then spoke one of his curiosities. “Who then escorted you or have you-.”

“Please let me take you to where you belong.” Javert interrupted, not wishing to discuss the matter.

Valjean noticed Javert had excluded himself, but chose not to comment.

                Javert started murmuring under his breath and Valjean found himself doing the same. The door of the bedroom burst into light and both souls walked automatically into it.

They stood outside a set of set of golden gates and a humble old man greeted them. Valjean lit up at seeing him.

“Monseigneur!”

The bishop looked like a proud father as he gazed upon Valean, though he gazed upon everyone he knew like a proud father. “Come my son, you have earned rest.” Javert stayed put as Valjean stepped forward to follow the man who had saved his soul.

They went a few steps before the bishop stopped. Valjean paused as well, but continued on when the bishop gestured to do so. Valjean stepped through the gates smiling.

The bishop returned to where Javert was standing. Javert bowed, already knowing what the saint was going to say. “I understand. I will leave immediately.” But before he could turn, the bishop had laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Why would you leave? You have earned your place here as well.”

Javert lightly shook his head. “I have committed a major sin and have failed God. I do not deserve this paradise.”

The bishop smiled. “Then confess your sins and be cleansed.”

“Confession does not change what I’ve done and will not erase my guilt.”

“Then remember that our Lord has guided you here and tells you to stay.”

Javert furrowed his brow. “No one brought me to stay. I was pulled to escort Valjean.”

The bishop openly grinned. “You have not been paying attention. You guided Valjean and Valjean guided you.” He paused to let Javert process. “You belong here, my son.”

Javert was stunned into silence.

“Shall we walk?” Without waiting for an answer the bishop started walking and Javert followed.

“You have been misguided, but you have always done what you believed to be right. And you have done quite a lot of good besides. Despite what you think, you have failed no one, my son.”

Javert felt his shock morph into something warm. To think, he was someone’s son. He had possessed many titles and labels in his lifetime, but son was never one he felt ownership to. “Thank you, Monseigneur.” His voice was low, but uncharacteristically full of emotion.

“There is no need to thank me.”

And then Javert passed through the gates.


End file.
